Angie’s List members are always quick to tell us what they think — and you have clearly voiced your opinion about our recent entry into the medical ratings arena. No less than 76 percent say it’s a good idea.

Many of you believe it will help to keep medical professionals on their toes and can’t wait to share your experiences with others. As costs spiral upward, you also tell us you want more information in order to make wise decisions about how to spend your health care dollars.

A number of doctors and other health care professionals like online ratings, too, saying they’ve boosted business or been a helpful gauge of customer satisfaction. But instead of focusing on what they might learn from being reviewed, some of their peers nervously argue that patients aren’t savvy enough to accurately evaluate care.

We obviously disagree — and encourage you to read Angie’s column, "Are patients stupid? We don’t think so," to learn why. We also provide more on the reaction to Angie’s List health care ratings and an explanation of how to use and report on our medical categories, a report on the growing shortage of primary care physicians and new research that suggests many oncologists lack empathy for their patients.

In other words, this edition is chock-full of stories about health care! Please let us know if we’ve done a good job. We always learn a lot from the feedback.

Until next time,

Sue Wiltz | Editorial Director

 

Have a comment about this story? E-mail us at mailbag@angieslist.com.